Enjoy Kushner Connections Weekly Newsletter

November 2, 2023/ 19th of Cheshvan 5784/ Parsha Valera

Candle Lighting: 5:33 PM

JKHA and RKYHS continued to welcome new students this week from Israel. There are currently 19 students in total from Israel at JKHA and RKYHS. Our whole school community continues to rally to do what we can for these new families. KPAC has been working together with the school to help welcome the families, arranging for each new family to have a buddy family as well as bringing welcome bags to each family. We are grateful to our resilient school faculty and leadership who are seamlessly welcoming the students and acclimating the new students into their classrooms.

RKYHS Associate Principal Mr Plotsker traveled to Israel this week. He met with RKYHS alumni at their yeshivot and seminaries and provided chizuk and brought warm wishes from all of us at JKHA/RKYHS. Mr Plotsker visited 14 yeshivot, seminaries, and programs in total all over Israel and heard from our alumni about their experience this year in their programs and about how they've been able to help during the war.

Our JKHA/RKYHS alumni are spread out on college campuses all across the country. We reached out to them over these past few weeks to check in. Click here to see what some of our JKHA/RKYHS Alumni are doing on college campuses across the country.

Early Childhood/Lower School

What an amazing morning welcoming so many grandparents and special visitors to JKHA Lower School on Friday. Our guests joined students on a lech lecha journey visiting Avram's tent, arts and crafts and STEM activities related to the parsha, and concluded with a special Shabbat assembly all together!

First grade students are working on the unit "Ma yesh B'beit Hasefer" (what can be found in school). Each child received a Hebrew word card of things they can find in school, and then the class left on a tour of the school, labeling each item they found in Hebrew, using the sentence "BaBeit sefer yeish..." Upon return to the classroom, the children wrote sentences on the topic in Hebrew.

Lower School continued with their weekly letter writing for Israel. They have written to schoolchildren displaced from the South, Kushner alumni currently serving in the IDF, and to other members of the IDF. This week, Judaic studies classes were asked to speak to HaShem in their letters. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation offers people all over the world the chance to write a letter to HaShem that they will print and place in the Kotel. Every student had a chance to type a letter, or send a group letter from the class for our youngest students, that will be placed in the Kotel.

Second graders are reading the book The Hundred Dresses where the main character is teased for always wearing the same faded dress. The book encouraged second graders to organize a school-wide clothing drive to help those in need. We are teaming up with the RKYHS Homeless Awareness Club for a joint clothing drive on behalf of the homeless. The high school students visited the second graders this week and shared their experiences of helping the homeless with the younger students. Mrs. Lundner also spoke about kindness and reminded the students that they learned that the ultimate kindness is giving and not receiving anything in return. This is a perfect opportunity for the students to practice the middah of kindness/chessed. They invite you to please bring in clothing to donate through Monday, November 21st. Any type of clothing can be donated, especially warm clothing and items such as blankets, gloves, and hats. The clothing will be distributed by the RKYHS Homeless Awareness Club on their upcoming visit to Newark's homeless.

Middle School

Based on 6th grade parents' interest in donating a portion of their collections for bar and bat mitzvah gifts, we have begun a new initiative entitled "Mitzvah Mania." The goal is to help our 6th graders make an educated selection of which organization in Israel they would like to donate a portion of their bar/bat mitzvah collection to. Each student was assigned a teacher-researched charity currently involved in efforts to support Israel either in the country or from abroad. Students worked hard to research and present their assigned charity organizations today, aiming to convince their peers why their charity deserves their collective donation. The presentations were inspiring and truly showcased our students' commitment to making a positive impact on the world. Each student then received an email with the Google form link to cast their individual vote. With Election Day approaching next week, this is a good opportunity for students to see the benefit of active participation in the decision-making process and understand the significance of supporting organizations in Israel during this time of immense struggle. The results will be announced on Monday.

Mrs. Shanskhalil's Language Arts class is reading "Because of Mr Terupt," a novel

about a teacher who brings his class to the “collaborative classroom “ for a lesson in empathy. The class visited the Sinai 3rd graders in order to share the experience and connect with the characters in the book. Students truly enjoyed the visit and requested to invite the younger Sinai students to their class next time!

Our 8th grade girls spent a beautiful shabbat together with faculty in West Orange. The Shabbat enabled the grade to spend time together outside of school while enhancing each other's Shabbats. In advance of their Shabbaton, they baked beautiful challot, increasing their tefillot for eretz yisrael and the IDF.

This week in Kushner's GrowTorah garden, Farmer Shimon and the students got a lot done. They planted five strawberry plants, saved some more seeds for next year, harvested carrots, weeded the beds, and composted plants that were removed. They saved some of the tomato and eggplant plants so they could overwinter them indoors: They trimmed the tops, washed the soil from the roots, trimmed the roots, and sent them home with Farmer Shimon. This way, in the Spring, their plants can get an earlier start in growing big and strong!

High School

On Monday, RKYHS held the second annual RKYHS Hackathon with 20 students from grades 9-12 competing in teams to brainstorm a solution to the challenge: "We're out of date, Let's Automate." Teams were challenged to present a business case proving the need for their solution, a user interface that showed how users would navigate through the application and computer programs to display at least three functions of the system. After 8 hours of intense work, the teams presented their work to a group of parents and faculty judges. The students' ingenuity, tenacity and skills created prototypes that we can't wait to see get developed into a robust system that can be put to use in school!

A group of RKYHS students attended a powerful training seminar today with the ADL

( Anti Defamation League). The goal of the training for Jewish teens was to empower the students to respond to antisemitism and anti zionism effectively and constructively. It was facilitated by skilled professionals who provided expert level training.

This week, RKYHS grades 9-11 have embarked on a crash course in Israeli history, led by our RKYHS history faculty. Against a backdrop of dramatically rising antisemitism, and in a world where Israel's very right to exist is continuously called into question, RKYHS believes it is imperative to help our students better understand Israel's history and the current conflict. While students explore this topic in depth in their Senior year, RKYHS wants to make sure that all students at RKYHS have access to a foundational level of knowledge, so that they can respond with substance to anti-Israel attacks, bolstering their already steadfast commitment to Israel.

RKYHS will be offering this crash course in Israeli history to JKHA and

RKYHS parents and community this coming Monday night,

November 6 at 8:00pm on Zoom. See flier below for details.

Ninth grade physics class was studying gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy as well as manipulating formulas to determine speed, distance, and time. They have been collecting data to create a scatter plot from which the students could then use the line of best fit to determine the number of rubber bands needed to bungee jump a barbie doll from the top of the staircase (430 cm). The challenge was to see who could get her closest to the ground without hitting her head!

Members of the Sports Management Club visited MetLife Stadium for JETS Sports Business Day, where they had the opportunity to see the inner workings of the NY JETS organization. The JETS organization runs this yearly event and we are fortunate to have been able to have so many students participate at each event each year. Students rotated to different stations where they heard from representatives from a variety of different departments within the organization. They heard from community relations, analytics, ticket sales, fan entertainment, advertising, game day operations, and corporate sponsorship. The members of the Sports Management Club also had the opportunity to tour the field and JETS locker room. The RKYHS students were joined by a group of JKHA 8th graders for the experience.

A group of students created a new club - Life Skills this year to help provide students with a look at practical skills to help them in the big picture of life. This week they welcomed Gail Toll, a corporate consultant, who spoke on the art of public speaking and effective interviewing skills for jobs and for college. Other areas the club plans to focus on will include effective communication, problem solving, interpersonal relationships, basic housekeeping skills, basic first aid, car and home repair, budgeting, and more.

Amidst dealing with the news in Israel and their feelings and responses, as well as their college application season, RKYHS twelfth graders had a chance to get outside in the fresh air this week for a grade-wide kickball tournament. Students were divided into teams and had a great time with their classmates during this mental health break.

SPORTS

Congratulations to the RKYHS Boys Varsity Basketball team on their win vs Hanc

Congratulations to the RKYHS Boys Varsity Hockey team on their win over Hillel

Congratulations to the RKYHS Boys Varsity Outdoor Soccer team on their win over the Franklin School in Jersey City.

Click here for the latest issue of the newly named "Catch up with the Cobras" Middle School athletics newsletter.

DIVREI TORAH

Click here to view this week's Kushner Comments

Click here for a printable version of the Kushner Comments

Click here to read the JLC's The Schmooze

KPAC

EVENTS

ALUMNI

Mazel Tov to Avrumi and Michal (Laub) Schonbrun (JKHA ‘10) on the birth of a baby girl!

Mazel Tov to Rabbi Sammy and Yael (Hausdorff) (JKHA '08/RKYHS '12) Beckerman on the birth of a baby boy!

What a great turn out of alumni grandparents and special visitors at the

JKHA special visitors day last week!

It was so wonderful welcoming alumni parents to the 1st grade siddur play on Tuesday!

Rabbi Schlusselberg had a great visit with RKYHS alumni at Binghamton this week!

PARNAS HAYOM

November 3 – 19 Cheshvan

Was dedicated in memory of

Rabbi David Keehn z"l

הרב דוד יצחק בן עקיבא יהודה

Beloved Uncle of Abe (10th grade), Jack (10th grade), and Molly (JKHA '17)

and brother-in-law of Elisa and Mitch Cohen

in commemoration of his second yahrtzeit

November 2 – 18 Cheshvan

Was dedicated by

Shiely and Efraim Sadikov

in memory of

Mansoureh bat Sarah

beloved grandmother of Shiely Sadikov and

great grandmother of Ben (2nd Grade), Daniel (1st Grade) and

Nathaniel (EC4) Sadikov

in commemoration of her yahrtzeit.

November 1 – 17 Cheshvan

Was dedicated

in honor of

our JKHA/RKYHS Alumni serving in the IDF

along with all the IDF soldiers and

volunteers working to protect Midinat Yisrael

and in solidarity with the hostages with tefillot for their immediate release

October 31 – 16 Cheshvan

Was dedicated by

Lori and Douglas Zucker

in memory of our friend and teacher

Mrs. Shayndel Feuerstein,

may her teachings continue in this world

and our learning on her behalf implore Hashem to protect Am Yisrael

October 30 - 15 Cheshvan

Was dedicated by

Elyse and Avi Tuchman and Family

in memory of

Dr. Jerry Epstein

Yaakov Michael ben Raphael Ben Tzion z"l

beloved father of Elyse Tuchman and

grandfather of Zach (JKHA '13/RKYHS '17) and

Jessie (JKHA '17/RKYHS '21) Tuchman

in commemoration of his yahrtzeit.

Click Here to Donate

We Invite You to Dedicate Our Children's Torah Learning at JKHA/RKYHS

If you are interested in sponsoring a Day of Learning, contact Aly Greenstein: agreenstein@jkha.org or (862) 437-8001

COMMUNITY

Thursday, November 9 8PM